Ascension Day - Psalm Kieth Bernard Kuschel
Psalm 110
The Lord says to my lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” 2 The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying, “Rule in the midst of your enemies!” 3 Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy splendor, your young men will come to you like dew from the morning’s womb. 4 The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” 5 The Lord is at your right hand; he will crush kings on the day of his wrath. 6 He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth. 7 He will drink from a brook along the way, and so he will lift his head high
IA1 Why is Jesus our Savior? Because He took on Himself our sins. He went to the cross. He died the death we deserve. He rescued us from death as punishment for sin. He rose from the dead, so that we also will rise from the dead. He lived a perfectly holy life so He could give us His holiness and make us acceptable to Him. He did all this so that we could have an unending relationship with Him called eternal life. When did all this happen? In the past.
2 Part of the work Jesus did as our Savior was the work of a Priest. A priest sacrificed animals as a pointer to the real sacrifice: Jesus sacrifice of Himself to pay for our sins. A priest came out after the sacrifice and blessed people by telling them their sins were forgiven. In Gen 14 the priest of Salem(which means peace) named Melchizedek, which means King of Righteousness, came out and blessed Abraham. Verse 4 of our Psalm says Jesus, the one sitting at God’s right hand, is a priest in the order of Melchizedek. Jesus comes into our lives and blesses us with forgiveness, covers us with His righteousness and gives us peace.
B1 The verse also says to Jesus, “You are a priest forever.” That means He continues to do His priest job. How? Well it can’t mean He re-sacrifices Himself on a regular basis to wash away our sins. Why can’t it mean that? Because the Bible is very clear. Jesus’ one sacrifice was worth enough to pay for the sins of the world for all time. Hebr 9:28 Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins. Heb 10:10 We have been made holy through the sacrificee of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Hebr 10:14 By one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. So, Jesus doesn’t re-sacrifice Himself on a regular basis.
2 So, how is He a priest forever? The other job of the Old Testament priest was to be the intercessor, go-between, mediator. He took the sins of the people to God in the Most Holy Place at the temple. He brought the blood of the Lamb as a payment for the sins of himself and the people pointing ahead to the blood of Jesus. Then he brought out to the people the forgiveness that God announced in view of the life of the Anointed One to be given as payment. Jesus goes to the Heavenly Father with His own blood. Points to it as evidence that our sins are washed away and elicits from the Judge a “Not Guilty” verdict for us. Jesus the Intercessor, the Mediator, the Go-between, Our Defense Lawyer. That’s the part of the priest’s job that Jesus does forever.
C1 Knowing that makes us able to get up in the morning. When I wake up in the morning, I think, “Another day just like yesterday. Yesterday when I really failed to do my job to the best of my ability and still got paid. Yesterday, when I really badgered my friend at school, maybe I should say bullied, to get my own way. Yesterday, when I wasted way too many resources on things that aren’t necessary for my or others’ physical or spiritual well-being.”
2 But I know Jesus went to the Judge last night and said, “Judge. My blood washed away those sins of stealing, bullying and wastefulness. Besides that when I was on the earth I always perfectly carried out all my responsibility, I always loved people perfectly, and I always used everything given to me to accomplish what You wanted. I have covered humans with my holiness. Sins gone, covered with holiness. Judge: You have no reason to be angry. Sinner: You can make a new start each morning.” Because of Jesus’ work as priest for me, I can get up each morning and face each new day.
3 This sounds too good to be true. Will God continue to do this?. Is there a limit? Verse 4 says: “The LORD has sworn and will not change His mind: You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” LORD Jesus. Thank You for still working for me now. Thank you for still being my priest throughout my life. Thank You for still working for humans as our Intercessor-Mediator-Defense Lawyer until Judgement Day. Thank You for ascending into heaven and repositioning yourself at God’s right hand so You can do that.
IIA1 {2}“Rule in the midst of your enemies,” the LORD says to the One sitting at His right hand. That is a different directive from what comes later. Later it is {5 & 6}“crush, judge, heap up the dead.” Now it is “rule” Be a ruler. Be in charge. Take control. Be an overseer.
2 What is the instrument of rule? {2} The scepter extended from Zion. Zion is the hill on which the temple was built. Zion is the place where God’s people gathered to exercise their relationship with their Creator-Savior God. Zion came to mean the people who gathered on that hill to exercise their relationship with God. The LORD wants the rule of the One sitting at His right hand over the people of Zion to be extended out beyond Zion. How does that happen? When the Word of God, the Law and the Gospel, are used. Then Jesus’ rule in the hearts of people gets extended beyond Zion, the people who are believers now.
B1 How does the rule of the One sitting at the right hand of God get extended? His troops do the work. His troops are {3}“arrayed in holy splendor.” These troops are covered with the holiness of the Messiah. That’s what qualifies them to be His troops.
2 His troops are described as {3}“young men who will come to you like dew from the morning’s womb.” As the dew seems to be born from the morning, from above, so are all those who are the Messiah’s troops. They have been born from above, born of God. Listen to a quote from Luther: “The birth of the troops of the One sitting on the right hand of God happens similarly to the dew which on spring mornings we see on the grass. Though we see it every morning, no one can say where it came from or how it came about. So is every one who is born by the Holy Spirit. No one can explain how it happened. It is a miracle. Every believer is truly born of God. Regeneration is a real birth, which gives new life to him who experiences it. It is a birth from above. Every member of Christ’s people has experienced such a birth.”
3 His troops are described as {3}“willing on the your day of battle.” The troops of the One sitting on the right hand of God are willing to go to battle for their leader. This is a volunteer army. Because they have been covered with the holiness of their LORD, because they have been born into His group as a gift from their leader, they are so thankful that they volunteer to get into the battle of extending His rule.
C1 God wants Jesus’ rule extended. He wants more and more people to join Zion. He wants all to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. He is not willing that anyone should perish, but wants all to come to repentance. He wants all people to become followers of Jesus. He wants the message about Jesus to be spread into all the world.
2 His troops are supposed to do that. Who are His troops? We are. We are arrayed in the splendor of Jesus’ holiness. We have been born of God when the Holy Spirit brought us to trust that Jesus is our Savior. That leads us to want to give other people the privilege we have - being in the army of God. That’s why we get up in the morning. We have a purpose. LORD Jesus. thank You for giving me a job. Thank You for qualifying me for the job by arraying me in holy splendor and causing me to be born anew like dew. Thank You for equipping me for the job by placing into my hands the Scepter of Your Word. Thank You for ascending into heaven and repositioning Yourself at God’s right hand so that You can extend Your rule through me.
IIIA1 {1}The Lord says to my lord: “Sit at my right hand.” In the New Testament Jesus indicated in a conversation with the Pharisees that the “my lord” in this Psalm referred to the Messiah, the Christ. 41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?” “The son of David,” they replied. 43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says, 44 “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.”’45 If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” 46 No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions. So the LORD is talking to God the Son the Messiah in the first verse.
2 Now look at verse 5 The Lord is at your right hand. The One sitting at the right hand of the LORD in verse one is addressed. He is told the LORD is at his right hand. The right hand position is the position of power and authority. So we have the Messiah at the right hand of the Lord. And we have the LORD at the right hand of the Messiah.
3 The point is pretty easy. Christ always has the Father and the Holy Spirit at His side working right along with Him. The Father and the Holy Spirit always have Jesus the Christ at their side working right along with them. In verse 2 the Son, the Messiah, the Christ was invited to sit at the right hand of God because during His life on this earth, although He never gave up His position as Lord of all, He didn’t exercise His power to do that. After God the Son was finished with His work of living, dying, and rising for us, the LORD invited Him to take up the oversight position and use His power again when He said, “Sit at my right hand.”
B1 The Lord says to my lord: {1}“Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” In effect God was saying to the Christ, “I need you to be exercising Your rule over all things on the earth until all my enemies are conquered. If you don’t do that, life on the earth will be largely impossible for my people since my enemies, the devil and the unbelieving world are going to be very active.”
2 The word until is very important. When all God’s enemies are defeated, then the Messiah won’t need to be exercising His rule over all things to protect His people, since they won’t need to be protected for anything anymore. We know all of God’s enemies, who are also our enemies, will be totally defeated and put under the Messiah’s feet on Judgment Day. That is the reference at the end of this Psalm. he will crush kings on the day of his wrath. 6 He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth. 7 He will drink from a brook along the way, and so he will lift his head high.
C1 Sometimes it is hard to get up in the morning. Today is going to be just like yesterday. I don’t feel very well. I am not doing very well at school. There is too much pressure at work. I can’t pay my bills. I am not getting along very well with my siblings.
2 Sometimes it is hard to get up in the morning. Today is going to be just like yesterday. The devil tries to convince me that I am sick because God doesn’t care about me. My sinful self tries to convince me that the demands at school and work are unreasonable and I should just give up. My friends tell me that trying to make relationships work is silly. Just look out for yourself.
3 But I know that one day all the hardships will be gone. One day all the enemies will be crushed so they can’t attack me any more. Knowing that, looking forward to that future makes it possible for me to get up in the morning. LORD Jesus. thank You for giving me a look a the future.. Thank You for reminding me that You will crush all Your and my enemies on the Last Day. Thank You for using that reminder to motivate me to go on with life amidst its hardships and attacks. Thank You for ascending into heaven and repositioning Yourself at God’s right hand so that You will on Judgment Day be the winner and so will we.
The One sitting at the LORD’s right hand
I. Is still working for us (priest)
A. Jesus work for us
1. Lived and died and rose(past)
2. Like Melchizedek
B. What ongoing work?
1. Not re-sacrifice
2. Other priest job = intercessor
C. We can get up in the morning
1. Messed up again
2. Jesus goes to God
3. Never going to change mind
II. Has a job for us (Zion)
A. Jesus work for others
1. Rule in midst of enemies
2. Scepter from Zion
B. Rule carried out through troops
1. Arrayed in holiness
2. Like dew from morning
3. Are willing volunteers
C. We should get up in the morning
1. Jesus wants His rule extended
2. He does that through us
III. Will be the Winner
A. Jesus Interconnection
1. Beginning of Psalm
2. Here
3. Point
B. Future
1. Messiah sitting at right hand until JD
2. JD no more need to rule over world vs enemies
C. We can get up in the morning
1. Hardships
2. Enemies
3. Victory is ours eventually